Coupang, a leading online retailer based in South Korea, announced that it will pay 1.69 trillion South Korean won ($1.17 billion) in compensation to 34 million users whose personal information was affected by a massive data breach, reported last month.
In a statement on Monday, local time, the company announced that it would supply customers with purchase vouchers worth 50,000 won for different Coupang services. The vouchers are also available to former customers who have closed their Coupang accounts due to the data breach.
According to a Google translation of the statement in Korean, Coupang indicated that users would be able to determine their eligibility for the vouchers starting on January 15.
Interim CEO for Coupang Corp, Harold Rogers, mentioned the move as a “responsible measure for our customers,” and said the company would “fulfill its responsibilities to the end.”
In a statement, he said, “I once again deeply apologize to our customers.”
The apology by Rogers followed a day after the apology of Coupang founder Kim Bom, who stated that he was “devastated” by the disappointment people experienced due to the breach. The data breach, which was reported on November 18, led to the resignation of CEO Park Dae-jun earlier this month.
However, in another statement, Coupang founder Kim Bom said that the company had not communicated effectively right at the beginning of the incident.
The U.S.-based chairman has admitted that his apology was “overdue,” stating that he initially believed it was best to communicate publicly and apologize after all the facts were verified.
Kim further added that “In retrospect, this was a poor judgment. While Coupang worked tirelessly to resolve the situation, I should have expressed my deepest regrets and sincere apologies from the beginning. My heart has been heavy ever since I first learned of the data breach.”
Kim also mentioned that the company has reclaimed all the stolen information about the customer by collaborating with the government, and the storage devices used by a suspect who caused the leak of the data.
He also indicated that the customer data stored in the computer of the suspect was restricted to 3,000 data points and that it was not shared or sold to other parties.
